Crescendo
by The Blue Time Ranger
Summary: If I'm being honest with you, I've never felt as helpless in my entire life as I do right now. It just didn't seem like there was anything I could do. I already lost Hibiki once. I can't lose her again. Pairing is Hibiki/Kanade, set during the climax of the Suite movie, and a rewrite of a piece from my old S.P.D. Gold Ranger account.


If I'm being honest with you, I've never felt as helpless in my entire life as I do right now.

Trapped in Howling's seemingly unbreakable grip, being squeezed so hard that it felt like my whole body was going to snap in two...

It just didn't seem like there was anything I could do.

I made the mistake of looking back up just as Howling swung his other fist and punched Hibiki across the face, sending her spinning through the air like a lifeless puppet.

When I saw that, my heart just about stopped.

I'm pretty sure it _did_ stop when I watched Hibiki hit the ground, completely motionless.

My eyes began to flood with tears, even as I tried my hardest to deny what was right in front of me. I didn't want to believe that this was actually happening.

I wanted to block it out, reverse time, _anything_ that meant this wouldn't happen.

And what did Howling do? He just _laughed_ , a loud and booming cackle that echoed all across Major Land. And all I could do was stare at Hibiki, fearing the worst.

In my despair and grief, I couldn't help but scream Hibiki's name, knowing that unless a miracle happened, I was about to lose my best friend again.

But I started thinking about something.

Is she really _just_ a best friend to me?

Lately, I've been having a bunch of strange dreams, and they all involve me and Hibiki. They usually start as just normal things, like us sharing some cake from the Lucky Spoon (that one I made last week must have been _especially_ delicious considering how fast she scarfed it down).

But as the dream ends, she starts leaning towards me, her intent painfully obvious.

No matter what happens in the dream, I always wake up right before Hibiki and I can...

Running it through my mind now, in this situation, I can't deny it any longer. I'm in love with Hibiki.

It's just...

I felt powerless, absolutely _powerless_ , seeing Hibiki like this now, at Howling's mercy.

I had no idea if we were going to make it out of this alive.

I wanted to break Howling's grip on me and beat back at him. I wanted him to suffer for doing so much damage to Major Land. But most importantly, I wanted to return the pain he caused me by hurting Hibiki. I wanted to inflict that pain _tenfold_ on him.

But... I couldn't, as trapped as I was.

And that scared me more than anything else.

I looked back up, and Howling raised his fist again, intent on ending Hibiki's life with one last punch.

And I prayed.

I don't know why I prayed. I didn't know who I was even praying to, if anyone. But I still did it, hoping for _something._

Nothing happened. I was never going to see Hibiki again. I wasn't sure if I could handle that.

I already lost her once. I can't lose her again.

Suddenly, a bright light began shining from somewhere. Howling backed up and growled in agony, obviously meaning the light was hurting him.

But where was it coming from?

Before I could think, a strange force flew by me, easily whisking me out of Howling's grasp.

At first, I wasn't sure what had just happened, but something in my heart was telling me to look up. So I did.

And what I saw stole my breath away.

Hibiki was the one who had rescued me. But she was almost completely different.

Her outfit was more white and pink, and she now had an enormous pair of golden wings.

If I wasn't already delirious from this barrage of feelings, I would have said she looked like an angel.

" _Strumming the heart's tune, Crescendo Cure Melody!"_ Hibiki shouted, obviously introducing herself in her new form.

I couldn't help but silently laugh at Howling's disbelieving expression, mostly preoccupied with how radiant Hibiki was.

"Oh, wow," Ako gasped.

"That's brilliant..." Ellen proclaimed.

Hibiki floated slightly away from Howling so we could land on safe ground. And she still held me so tenderly, as if she thought I'd break if she let go of me.

"Crescendo... Cure Melody?" I gasped, addressing Hibiki in her new form. But that was all it took for my tears to start falling again. Deep down, I was resisting a very tempting urge to hub Hibiki.

"W-wait, wait a minute here," Hibiki replied, almost looking like she was going to start crying, too. "Kanade, why are _you_ crying?"

"I... I thought you were..." I gasped. "I thought you were going to..."

"Don't say those stupid things!" Hibiki shouted, and with that, we both broke and hugged each other tightly.

I couldn't believe she was all right.

I was _so happy._

Before we could get our bearings, though, Howling began marching back towards us, aiming a punch for Hibiki like he had before.

I won't lie, I was suddenly scared, because, after all, what had just happened?

Hibiki was ready this time, drawing her own fist back. "Don't you _dare_ touch her, you pre-historic _jerk_!" Hibiki shouted, throwing her fists forward to meet Howling's own attack, causing a shockwave to ripple out from the impact and send Howling reeling back.

"Hey, can you stand up?" Hibiki asked me. I just nodded, slowly getting back to my feet. "I need to tell you something, Kanade, while we've still got a chance. And, well... it's _really_ important, so please reserve all judgment until I'm done, okay?"

Before I could ask what she meant by that, Hibiki leaned forward and...

Oh.

Oh my gosh, she just _kissed me_.

I wanted to faint from shock right there, but I thankfully stayed conscious, implanting every single sensation in my mind. I honestly didn't want this to end.

Without even realizing I was doing it, I looped my arms around Hibiki and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss we were sharing.

Sadly, the moment was broken when Howling roared in outrage, forcing us to turn around and face him.

Hibiki just gave me a smile that indicated she'd be more than willing to pick up where we left off once all of this was over.

"I'm gonna kill him," I growled.

" _We're_ gonna kill him," Hibiki corrected me. "No one hurts _my sweetheart_ and gets away scot-free."

Despite wanting to melt from the endearing way she said that, we joined hands so we could gather our energy.

" _Pretty Cure Passionate Harmony! CRESCENDO!"_ Hibiki and I shouted in unison, aiming our now joined hands for Howling and producing a giant golden G-clef note that began spinning rapidly, eventually unleashing a massive wave of golden light that pierced through Howling's body and stunned him.

Ako and Ellen quickly rejoined us as Hibiki returned to her regular Cure Melody form. "Come on, everyone, let's finish this creep! All together now!" Hibiki exclaimed.

We opened up the Healing Chest to call on its power.

" _Come out, the source of all sounds!"_ we all chanted as the Fairy Tones added their own power to the Healing Chest, and Hibiki gently swept her hands across the piano keys.

We all joined hands as the Crescendo Tone appeared above us.

" _Let's deliver the symphony of hope!"_ we chanted as we began flying down a rainbow road made of piano keys, with every intent of wiping Howling off the face of this planet.

" _Pretty Cure Suite Session Ensemble! CRESCENDO!"_ we all shouted, absorbing ourselves into the image of the Crescendo Tone and speeding forward unbelievably quickly, ripping our way through Howling's body and reappearing behind him.

" _FINALE!"_ we all shouted, and Howling was carried into the air by a geyser of light, eventually turning into a cluster of light sparkles that dispersed and exploded, leaving nothing of him behind in our wake.

And just like that, we'd defeated another of Noise's servants and saved Major Land from a grisly fate. But apparently, I still had to talk to Hibiki about what we'd shared during the fight, now that we actually had time to talk about it.

Hibiki actually invited me for a sleepover tonight, as we didn't have school tomorrow.

"Okay, Kanade, now that we've got some alone time, I wanna talk to you about what happened back in Major Land," Hibiki started right as we were getting ready for bed that night.

"What is it, Hibiki?" I asked, just waiting for her response.

"I've been having a lot of weird dreams lately," Hibiki started. Her, too? "They were mostly just the two of us hanging out, having fun, all the stuff we never got to do after we, well, 'broke up'. And the thing is... every single one of those dreams ended with you giving me a kiss just before I woke up."

I held my breath, hoping that the next words out of Hibiki's mouth would be the words I hoped they'd be.

And I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.

"You and I have been friends for so freaking long, even if we kinda went through a rough patch somewhere in there," Hibiki admitted. "But now, after everything we've accomplished together, I honestly couldn't imagine a day without you."

Hibiki suddenly laughed. "Ehehehe, I must sound so dumb right now, huh? I'm really not good at this, but, I guess... what I'm trying to say here is that... well, I love you, Kanade."

I could practically feel my face get hot when she said those four simple words. She really _does_ love me! It wasn't just a spur of the moment thing!

"Eep, Kanade, are you all right?" Hibiki asked. "You're turning into a tomato!"

As my heart swelled with so much overwhelming happiness, I threw myself at Hibiki, tackling her back down to the bed and kissing her with all the passion I could muster.

Once I decided to let her go (because, seriously, I didn't want to stop kissing her), I gazed into Hibiki's eyes and returned her confession with one of my own.

"I love you, too, Hibiki. I think I have for a long time now."

Wow, the smile Hibiki made at that nearly bowled me over as she leaned up to kiss me again. I couldn't really do much but relish in the fact that Hibiki loved me, too.

And as we laid down to fall asleep, I hugged Hibiki as tightly as I could. I knew for a fact that I would be dreaming about Hibiki all night long, and I don't have a single problem with that.

Now I don't have to worry about whether or not she feels the same, because I know that she loves me.

Ah... I love you, too, Hibiki. I hope you always have sweet dreams from now on.


End file.
